The next steps for a San Jacinto Superfund site will be discussed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday, one year after the agency found that company cleanup efforts were woefully inadequate.
The International Paper Company and McGinnes Industrial Maintenance Corporation were warned in a letter last year that if they did not submit remedial designs and increase cleaning efforts, the agency would take over the cleanup of two garbage dumps in the San Jacinto River.
The pits were constructed in the 1960s to hold hazardous waste from a neighboring paper factory, and they contain chemicals called dioxins that cause cancer. Erosion and flooding have produced these dioxins on several occasions. The pits were included in EPA’s Superfund program, which targets hazardous waste sites for remediation, in 2008.
After years of postponing preparations for the poisonous site, the corporations were finally ordered to start the cleanup process in 2021. Over 85% of the southern waste dump has been excavated. The EPA began investigating plans for the Northern pit in September, and it remains largely unaltered.
RELATED: Residents are irate over delays while EPA permits businesses in charge of cleaning up the San Jacinto River’s trash pits.
The company submitted a nearly 300-page updated remedial design outlining cleanup plans for the site to the agency in November of last year.
The EPA has consistently and clearly told the corporations to clean up the sites or face the possibility of the agency stepping in, according to Jackie Medcalf, CEO of the Texas Health and Environment Alliance.
But according to Medcalf, the agency hasn’t yet really used its legal power to do so. We have examined McGinnes’ and International Paper’s plans. We think that they are still substantially lacking, just as they were a year ago.
According to her, the people who live in Highlands, Channelview, and the other surrounding towns shouldn’t have to bear the consequences indefinitely.
The San Jacinto Community Center, located at 604 Highland Woods Dr. in Highland, will host the public meeting on Tuesday from 6 to 7:45 p.m.
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